Consequences
by BlackFox12
Summary: There can be pretty serious consequences to some things


**Consequences**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from the game Jade Empire and I'm not making any money from this fic

**Summary:** There can be pretty serious consequences to some things

**Warning(s):** Spoilers for the game Jade Empire; spanking; mentions of violence

**Author's Note:** You can find information about Jade Empire on Wikipedia – just type the name into Google – if you don't know the game very well

* * *

The first time Sky spanked White Petal, it was only in play. After saving the whole of the Jade Empire, it had taken them both a long time to be able to relax and just enjoy their time together.

Sky came in from working in the garden to find White Petal cooking. He walked over and slipped his arms around her from behind, nuzzling her neck. "Smells good."

White Petal turned to face him and leaned her cheek against his. "What does? The cooking or me?" She smiled, but there was a light, teasing undertone to her voice. "Better answer correctly, or you're not going to get any food."

Sky laughed lightly and reached one hand round to rest it lightly on the seat of White Petal's trousers. "Or I could just put you over my knee and spank you until you agree to let me have dinner." He kept his tone light and harmless, knowing that White Petal wouldn't take it seriously in any way.

White Petal smiled. "I'd like to see you try."

"Is that a challenge?" Sky lowered his voice until he was giving a mock growl.

White Petal smiled even wider. "What do you think?" There was the hint of a challenge to her tone as well as the teasing. The betrayal by her master had hit her particularly hard; and it had taken a while for her to recover.

Sky's body trembled slightly with suppressed laughter as he forced a stern tone into his voice. "Well, I've never turned down a challenge yet." He used the hold he had on White Petal to pull her closer to him, then sat down on one of the chairs and dumped her easily across his lap – not that she was fighting.

While they'd been talking, White Petal had taken the food off, so Sky wasn't worried about it burning. He simply lifted his hand and brought it down, controlling his strength so that it landed in a very mild smack. Smiling a little, he repeated the motion again, and then ran his fingers through White Petal's hair. "Are you doing all right?" She was quiet, which Sky took to be a good sign – but he wanted to check on her.

White Petal turned her head to look at Sky and rolled her eyes. "Is that the best you've got?" she asked. "I can barely feel that!"

Sky smiled again and continued with the mild spanks, keeping one eye on White Petal's reactions. He paused periodically to stroke the spirit monk's back, or to lightly tickle and rub her hips. By the time he was finished, both were breathing heavily and almost weak with laughter.

White Petal pushed herself slowly up off Sky's lap and then slipped her arms around him, laughing. "All right, all right. I yield."

"Good." Sky kissed her lightly and then stood up, carefully letting go of White Petal. "So shall we have some food now? Or do you think it might have gone cold?"

* * *

When Sky woke up a few mornings later, it was to find that White Petal had gone. At first, he wasn't worried, just assuming that his wife had gone into another room. He got up and pulled on his clothes, and then started looking in each of the rooms of the small hut, calling White Petal's name several times.

It didn't take Sky long to search the hut, and by the time he was finished, his jaw was tight with anger. Since they'd moved into the hut together, White Petal had had times when she'd just disappeared without a word of warning. They had been getting further-spaced apart, but clearly hadn't stopped completely.

Sky knew from experience that White Petal would come back eventually, but would then be quiet and subdued, refusing to tell him what was wrong. He wouldn't accept that this time. If their relationship was to work at all, White Petal needed to trust him. Unless, of course, she didn't _want_ them to work.

That possibility frightened Sky more than he cared to admit.

White Petal could take care of herself, and if she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be. Sky would still not get any sleep until she was back safely.

* * *

It was two whole days before the door finally opened and White Petal stepped through. Sky had promised himself that he wasn't going to crowd her, but he couldn't help quickly going over to her and pulling the woman into his arms.

"White Petal… Where have you been?"

The woman didn't answer, but she trembled in his arms. Her clothing was ripped and her skin was stained. She looked very tired and seemed to be in some kind of shock. Sky quickly pushed away all of the questions that threatened to spill out and helped White Petal through one of the doors and over to the tub, which he filled with water that had already been heated. He then turned to help White Petal out of her dirty clothes.

"I'm sorry…" White Petal whispered as Sky helped her out of her clothes.

Sky took a deep breath, knowing that the scolding could wait. "Come on, I'll get you cleaned up." He lifted White Petal and simply put her in the water. Keeping one arm around her, he reached for the cloth and soap and started to clean her off. "We'll talk about it later," he added, keeping his voice low and calm.

White Petal closed her eyes and let Sky clean her up. Once he was finished, she covered his hand with her own. "Are you angry with me?" she asked quietly.

Sky paused and then gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "I still love you," he said. "But we'll talk about this later."

* * *

When White Petal woke up the next morning, she smelled cooking. While it would have usually made her smile, it just made her feel even worse now. Although Sky had shared the bed with her, there hadn't been much contact at all between them, and she'd been able to feel his anger.

As she got up and slowly got dressed, her eyes misted with tears. Why did she keep doing this to Sky? She didn't _want_ to hurt him, but it seemed like that was all she'd been doing. Would Sky leave her? She wouldn't blame him for doing so, but she really didn't want to lose him – and she was terrified that she would.

White Petal took a deep breath and left the bedroom, heading out into the cooking area, where Sky was in front of the fireplace. She took a deep breath and then slowly walked over to him. "Sky…?"

"Breakfast will be ready in a moment," Sky said without turning round.

White Petal fought the tears that threatened to fall, but her voice still trembled slightly as she replied, "We need to talk."

Sky turned to her, and his hurt was visible and raw enough to cause White Petal to take a step backwards. "In case you didn't realise, I've _tried_ talking to you. You disappear for two, three days at a time, and then expect me to just forget it like it never happened? I can't live like that. You don't trust me and that hurts more than I can say."

"I _do_ trust you!" White Petal insisted.

Sky stared into her eyes. "Then why not tell me where you go? What makes you hurt so much that you have to leave me and then come back looking like you've been in a fight? Why don't you tell me, and then we can go together? You don't have to be alone, my spirit monk." When White Petal didn't answer, he sighed and turned back to his cooking. "Until you can trust me, I can't see how our relationship is going to work."

White Petal bit her lip slightly. "Do you want me to leave?"

"Of course not."

White Petal opened her mouth, but then paused, closing it again, as something occurred to her. When Sky had put her over his knee the other day, it had only been in play. But perhaps… She took a step towards him; placed a hand on his arm. "Please don't give up on me… on us."

Sky's jaw clenched and he refused to look at her. "You're everything to me, White Petal. It nearly destroyed me when you died – but you came back. I love you so much that sometimes it hurts. I don't mind – I can bear that pain. But I can't handle the pain of knowing that you don't trust me. I… I don't know what I've done to push you away, but whatever it is, I'm sorry."

Hearing Sky blame himself was almost too much for White Petal to bear. She closed her eyes and clung to him. "I love you," she said, her eyes filling with tears again. "I'll tell you what I do, but first… I think you need to punish me." Sky was right. She wasn't being fair to him at all.

Sky turned to her, his expression full of disbelief. "You're suggesting I spank you… for real?"

White Petal nodded slowly. "Please. I… I've done you a great wrong. I should have seen it before, but because I didn't, I almost destroyed us. You're everything to me, too, Sky. I've been taking you too much for granted, and I'm sorry. Please…" she whispered.

Sky took the food away from the fireplace and turned to White Petal. Without saying anything, he led her over to the chair and sat down. Drawing his wife in front of him, he removed her belt and then pulled her trousers down to her knees before he tugged her over his lap and lowered her underwear. Each silent motion was testament to their wounded relationship. As White Pearl lay across his thighs, she felt the wound and felt it bleeding, the same way the Water Dragon had bled.

She could only hope that this wound could be healed…

The first smack landed with enough force to take White Petal's breath away. She gasped, but didn't do anything apart from that.

Sky spanked in silence, each swat landing hard enough to sting, but not enough to bruise. In a way, the silence was as bad as the spanking. White Petal found herself wondering if she was wrong and the wound was too great to be healed. Sky was tense against her body and his legs were hard beneath her.

White Petal closed her eyes. When the first tears came, they were from the emotional pain as much as the physical. She'd hurt Sky… What she was suffering now was nothing compared to that.

When Sky tipped White Petal so that he could spank her sit-spots and the very tops of her thighs, the woman's sobs reached a new level. If she didn't know better, she would have said that Sky was lighting a fire on her behind. _He can't forgive me… He won't forgive me. I've lost him forever._

White Petal lowered her head and just cried, surrendering completely to the pain. She didn't even realise that the spanking had stopped until she became aware of a voice speaking soothingly to her and felt her hair and back being stroked.

"I'm sorry…!" she choked out. "Please… please forgive me!"

Sky simply lifted White Petal off his lap and drew her into a tight hug. The tension in his body had gone, and White Petal clung to him, crying into his chest. She managed to get a few more apologies around her tears.

"Shh." Sky stroked White Petal's hair and face and kissed her on the top of her head. "It's all right. It's all over. I forgive you and I love you." There was no harshness in his voice at all. He cradled his wife gently, kissing her cheeks and head over and over again.

Finally, White Petal began to calm down. She clung to Sky still, but raised her head to look into his eyes. "I… I'll tell you everything."


End file.
